Mavericks blast listless Cavs

Posted: Thursday, November 01, 2007

CLEVELAND - The Dallas Mavericks began anew. LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers wish they could start over.

Jason Terry scored 24 points, Dirk Nowitzki added 15 and the Mavericks, whose NBA title pursuit last season ended with a stunning first-round exit against Golden State, opened 2007-08 with a 92-74 victory over the Cavaliers on Wednesday night.

The Mavericks held a foul-plagued James scoreless in the first half and made an impressive debut in dominating the defending Eastern Conference champions, who are being given little chance of making a return trip to the finals.

Jerry Stackhouse added 17 points for Dallas, which got six 3-pointers from Terry and finished 9-of-18 behind the arc.

James had the worst opening night of his brilliant career. He had 10 points on 2-of-11 shooting and was a non-factor in the Cavaliers' most lopsided home loss since April 5, 2005.

Pau Gasol led Memphis with 22 points, while Damon Stoudamire had 18 and Gay finished with 16.

Raptors 106, 76ers 97: At Toronto, Andrea Bargnani scored 20 points and the Toronto Raptors began the defense of their Atlantic Division title with a victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.

Pacers 119, Wizards 110: At Indianapolis, Jamaal Tinsley scored 16 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, and the Indiana Pacers beat the Washington Wizards to give coach Jim O'Brien a win in his debut.

Magic 102, Bucks 83: At Orlando, Fla., Rashard Lewis came out decidedly on top in a matchup of two frontcourt debuts. Yi Jianlian proved he could be dangerous with a little more experience.

Lewis, the former Seattle All-Star who landed a $118 million offseason payday, scored 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting to help the Orlando Magic beat the Milwaukee Bucks.